On a Tuesday late in October, a number of prominent men will gather in a high-ceilinged chamber, lit with chandeliers and decorated with portraits of Presidents, to consider a piece of legislation which affects the fundamental assumptions of their society and which has its most profound implications for a younger generation.
The setting is the Faculty Room in University Hall, the Presidents are of Harvard, and the "bill" is the Doty Report on General Education. But the implied analogy to the Congress of the United States is well-founded.
At its monthly meeting, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences--in essence a federal body--will try to secure for all members of the college certain benefits which each of its departments cannot provide separately, thereby renewing a conflict between the college and the departments which is older than the Federal-state rivalry.
Ford Optimistic
Whether the Faculty will divide sharply over the report or easily reach a consensus is, however, not entirely certain at the moment. Franklin Ford, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, is one who is optimistic; he foresees little political infighting and expects the report to pass with only a few modifications or amendments. Ford, whose initial concern over the disarray of undergraduate education led to the formation of the Doty Committee, will chair the Faculty meeting and is one of the most influential supporters of the report. ("Its his baby now," said one member of the special committee.) If all goes well in Ford's view, it will take two years for the report to pass through five board stages which preceed its inauguration as a fully implemented Harvard program.
First, beginning in early October, Ford will ask the department chairmen to evaluate the report on relatively narrow grounds; how does it affect their own domain? By seeking the counsel of the department heads first, Ford will be able to anticipate the significant objections and qualifications of the report's most likely critics.
Second, at the October Faculty meeting, Paul M. Doty, professor of Chemistry, will be first on the docket and will present the opening argument for his committee's report. Debate will follow. Ford hopes that at this time (or at the beginning of the November meeting) the Faculty will give the report a vote of confidence by approving it in broad outline and discharging the Doty Committee.
Third, during November and December the Faculty will go through the report in detail, modifying or amending specific sections. By the Christmas recess their work could be finished, and the report adopted.
Fourth, it will then go to the Committee on Educational Policy for drafting into final legislation. The CEP, in conjunction with members of the Doty Committee, will try to reconcile Faculty suggestions with the original language of the report. By mid-winter, the Faculty will vote on the report in final form, amending or repealing those sections of The Rules Relating to College Studies concerned with Gen. Ed.
Fifth, if the report is passed, President Pusey will appoint a new Committee on General Education on the recommendation of Dean Ford. Together with the registrar the committee will begin the process of actually shaping the new program; creating new courses, staffing and scheduling them--all to be ready for the Class of 1970.
Although it is unlikely that the Doty report will be adopted and implemented quite so smoothly, it is also unlikely that there will be massive changes. At the very least, the Doty Committee has shown the present situation to be untenable. One of the best defenses against great alterations in the report is that no one will want to form a new committee and begin another search for alternatives.
Aims Come First
Clearly, if there is to be a debate over General Education, however "great" or limited, it will have to come during the Fall Faculty meetings. Because the heart of the report is in the substantive material--changes in distribution rules and rearming the administrative structure, Dean Ford's desire for an early vote of confidence on broad issues may be frustrated. Nonetheless, Ford will insist that the Faculty consider the report first in terms of the broad aims and needs it outlines, then in terms of the assumptions and operating rules of the new program, and finally in terms of administrative change.
What arguments in opposition to the report or in favor of modifying it can be expected in the three potential areas of controversy?
AIMS OF GEN.ED.--Most broadly, the question the report asks here and answers in the affirmative is should there be General Education at all? Is there a need for some type of education in the college to counter the specialization of the departments? "In summary form," says the report, "it is the task of General Education 1) to give the student an appreciation of the civilization of which he is a part, 2) to make him aware of different fields of knowledge and methods of inquiry and 3) to encourage a broader view of the potentialities and limitations of his own speciality." But this is a battle that was fought twenty years ago with the writing of the Redbook.
